Kinetic studies of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) oxidation over Pt/Rh and Pd monolithic automotive catalysts were performed in a spinning basket flow reactor under atmospheric pressure. The reaction temperature was varied between 350 and 550 K, while MTBE concentration ranged from 10 to 500 ppm and oxygen concentration from 10(3) to 10(5) ppm. Various kinetic models have been tested in the analysis of the experimental data obtained in this work. The model that; takes into account the surface reaction between dissociatively adsorbed reactants was found to yield the most successful fit and to be valid for both catalysts. According to this model, the activation energy of MTBE oxidation over Pt/Rh and Pd is estimated as 38 200 +/-110 J mol(-1).